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15 October 2014
WW2 - People's War

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Diary of a 17 Year Old in 1943

by Action Desk, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Suffolk

Contributed byÌý
Action Desk, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Suffolk
People in story:Ìý
Elizabeth Stewart Arkieson, Nee Dunnet
Location of story:Ìý
Hounslow, Middlesex
Background to story:Ìý
Civilian
Article ID:Ìý
A4489699
Contributed on:Ìý
19 July 2005

January
1st— Saved 10/- in P.O savings. Listened to a New Year festival and Grand Pageant of the Empire and her allies. Great Thrill
7th-Back to school
17th-Air raid warning 8.15pm-10pm. Heavy Gunfire.
18th-ARW 4.55am for seventy minutes, heaviest gunfire London had heard. ARW 8pm for 20 minutes.
20th-ARW 12.35pm heavy ack-ack, 11 aircrafts brought down. Put dinner back in oven, all clear 1.15pm. ARW 10.50pm.
25th-Monday ARW 2.25pm-2.50pm
27th-Gun fire heard during lunch hour.

February
7th-ARW 8.15am-8.45am
10th-ARW 4.50pm for 20 minutes. Guns very strong

March
3rd-Wednesday ARW 8.20pm. Guns going, explosion nearby and shells bursting overhead. All clear 9.40pm.
9th-ARW 00.30 for one hour
12th-Friday ARW 7.33 for half an hour.

April
9th-ARW 11.50am for 15 minutes
15th-ARW 00.25-01.25am
16th-ARW 5pm for 10 minutes
17th-ARW 00.30 for 65 minutes
18th-ARW 1.58pm for 6 hours
20th, 25th-ARWs during the early hours of the morning, gunfire heard.

May
17th-ARW 3 times during the night. Heavy gunfire during second.
18th, 19th-ARWs 3 times during both nights and heavy gunfire.
21st-ARW during night

June
1st- ARW during the night and on 13th(twice), 14th(once), and 15th(twice)
18th,27th,28th-ARW during nights, varying lengths of time.

July
9th-ARW 5.30pm for half an hour.

October
6th, 7th-ARWs in the evening for 2 hours each, and had four more evening alerts

November
2nd,3rd, 8th-evening alerts

December
10th-alert

During all this time bed was in the Anderson Air Raid shelter all nicely furnished, warm and comfortable and the budgerigar would come down too.
No air raids were recorded during august as I was down in Slimbridge, Gloucestershire with the school, Ealing County Girls School potato picking, situated in a campsite with Italian Prisoners of war at the opposite side of the field.
In spite of the fear of a siren sounding life carried on as usual, for example every Monday evening I would collect along the street for the Red Cross Penny a week collection. Two evenings every week was taken up with attending classes and parades for the Women’s Junior Air Corps and I was promoted to Lance Corporal in July, I also went away with them to a camp in Somerset.
Being a tawny owl for a Brownie Pack seemed to take up more time every week and I still managed to enjoy swimming two or three times a week.

At the end of July, full time school finished and I was taken on by the Post Office to train for a counter clerk position, I then started employment at the beginning of November and being on the stamp and parcel end of the counter I had a float of £100. I would remain at this job until such time when I would go for nurse training the following year, during this time I attended the cinema 37 times recording which films I had seen.
On December 31st, I was woken during the night, by my mother to hear the church bells ringing out the old year and welcoming 1944.

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